TORONTO – Rebounding from a disappointing last-second loss to Carlos Condit this past June, 21-year-old Rory MacDonald used pinpoint striking and a handful of powerful slams to earn a unanimous-decision win over the always-game Nate Diaz in a contest you’d be hard-pressed to call anything but a complete whitewash

The fight served as the featured contest of Saturday night’s seven-bout UFC 129 preliminary card, which took place at Toronto’s Rogers Centre and aired on Spike TV and Facebook.com.

The action preceded the evening’s historic pay-per-view event.

The opening round featured Diaz starting as the aggressor, taking control of the center of the cage and taunting MacDonald less then a minute into the round. But he seemed to offer MacDonald just a little too much respect from distance.

Mixing in kicks from various angles, MacDonald kept Diaz guessing as he tried to figure out from where the next strike was coming. Meanwhile, MacDonald found range with a variety of strikes that included a slick Superman punch as he kept Diaz’s takedown attempts at bay.

In the second, Diaz again was a little slow to pull the trigger, and it was MacDonald who was stronger in the clinch and earned a pair of takedowns in the opening minutes. The youngster never appeared willing to engage on the mat, but he did score a little damage on the floor each time before allowing his opponent to return to his feet.

Diaz came alive in the latter stages of the round with a few crisp counterpunches, but MacDonald wouldn’t allow the momentum to shift, and he used a textbook jab-low kick combination to great effect on a few occasions. A pair of knees sealed the frame for the youngster.

With the crowd firmly behind him as the final round began, MacDonald finished off a perfectly executed gamepan.

A pair of aerial powerbombs brought the crowd to a fever pitch 90 seconds into the round, and MacDonald turned up the heat. Delivering a few stinging right hands to a downed Diaz, MacDonald then suplexed the trashtalking badboy in his head for a third time. Diaz tried desperately to work the fight to the floor, but when it did hit the canvas, he was on the bottom yet again. MacDonald stood over his opponent and punched away at his opponent’s battered, bloodied face. When the final bell sounded, MacDonald scaled the cage wall to celebrate a magnificent performanc that saw him sweep all three rounds, including a 30-26 mark on two different judges cards.

“He turned and exposed his back to me, and that’s a pretty natural movement for me,” MacDonald said of his slams. “I feel very strong in that position.

“He kept turning his back to me. I was really surprised by the third one. I felt like I was going to keep slamming him until the end of the round.”

MacDonald (11-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) looks to have a bright future after stunning the winner of “The Ultimate Fighter 5.” Meanwhile, Diaz (13-7 MMA, 8-4 UFC) may need to again consider a career at lightweight after getting completely outworked at 170 pounds.

Ellenberger blasts Pierson with crushing first-round knockout

A short-notice booking proved no problem for scrappy welterweight Jake Ellenberger, who scored a picture-perfect left hook to knock out Sean Pierson in the night’s first Spike TV-televised bout.

Ellenberger, a late replacement for injured Brian Foster, took the fight on just a couple weeks’ notice. But he displayed great footwork, solid head movement and crisp striking to shut down the former Toronto police officer.

Ellenberger’s hands proved quicker, and once finding his range, he landed a couple nice counter shots. After Pierson quickly got to his feet after the NCAA Division II national champion’s takedown, Ellenberger popped him with a left.

Pierson was out cold on his feet from the blow, and he fell to the mat like a chainsawed tree. Ellenberger mixed in a quick right while his opponent crashed to the mat in seemingly slow motion.

The knockout stoppage, which silenced the Toronto crowd, came at the 2:22 mark of the opening round.

“There’s so many people, it’s hard to stay relaxed in there,” Ellenberger said after the win. “I didn’t know I caught him until he went down. He was jabbing, and then I just caught him with the hook. I was a little worried because it was a late-notice fight, but I came out with the win so I was happy about that.”

Roberts looked sharp early with an earnest kimura attempt, but Patrick calmly defended and instantly swung momentum in his direction. Faster on the feet, Patrick began to pepper Roberts with punches from the outside and knees in the clinch that saw him take the opening round.

In the second, Roberts finally netted the top position he had been seeking. However, Patrick again looked comfortable in defense, scrambling up to his feet and then scoring a takedown of his own. However, Roberts swept to top position again and delivered a few short punches from the top. The back-and-forth action continued until the bell, though a final flurry on the feet revealed Roberts was unquestionably fatigued. Nevertheless, it appeared he had done enough to take the second and even up the fight.

Patrick made sure that didn’t matter in the third.

With Roberts visibly fading and unable to overpower his opponent, Patrick took the fight to the floor and scored points by gaining mount. When Roberts worked free, Patrick settled on a sprawl-and-brawl approach for the remainder of the final period. It was a moderately-paced round at best, but it was enough for the crowd-favorite to walk away with a unanimous-decision win, 29-28 on all three judges’ cards.

Following the win, Patrick admitted it was a bit personal.

“The guy did something different that I will never let get to me again,” Patrick said. “He went on the computer and made a whole bunch of ridiculous remarks, which I didn’t even read because I turn the computer off when I’m training for a fight.

“He made this video about my head being, so big so that’s why I came at him so hard in the first round and let my fists do the talking.”

It took nearly seven years after his first attempt, but bantamweight Ivan Menjivar finally earned an octagon victory.

Menjivar lost a unanimous decision in June 2004’s UFC 48 event, but the “Pride of El Salvador” looked as if he’d hardly lost a step in a first-round shellacking of nine-time WEC veteran Charlie Valencia.

Valencia opened aggressively with kicks to the legs and body, but Menjivar quickly tied up his foe and went to work from the clinch. A few crisp elbows inside sent Valencia crashing to the canvas, and Menjivar swarmed with punches that punches that forced the stoppage 90 seconds into the bout.

“From the clinch, we were kneeing each other and then by reflex I threw my left elbow and connected,” Menjivar said after the win. “That spun him, and then I followed him to the ground, and that was it.”

Heavy crowd favorite Jason MacDonald, fighting for the first time since a gruesome broken leg ended at his night at UFC 113 in May 2010, made quick work of fellow middleweight Ryan Jensen with a perfectly executed triangle choke.

MacDonald wasted little time with a takedown attempt, countering Jensen’s first striking combination by dumping him to the floor. Jensen alertly slapped on a guillotine choke attempt as he hit the deck, but MacDonald squirmed free of the hold. One on top, MacDonald really went to work.

Jensen tried to scramble up from the floor, but MacDonald instantly transitioned to his back. With just one hook in place, MacDonald slipped off but deftly locked in a triangle choke as his opponent tried to set up on top. Trapped in the hold, Jensen tried to punch his way out, but he had little choice but to tap at the 1:37 mark of the first round.

“Words can’t describe what I’m feeling right now,” MacDonald said. “I had the triangle locked in and I knew he was going to slam me. I knew as long I kept him tight it would be no problem.”

MacDonald (25-14 MMA, 6-6 UFC) improves to 4-1 in his past five overall outings as he claims a UFC win for the first time since a September 2008 win at UFC 88. Meanwhile, Jensen (15-8 MMA, 2-4 UFC) has been submitted in consecutive fights and my face a pending release from the promotion.

Makdessi scores early claim for “Fight Night” bonus

Undefeated lightweight striker John Makdessi made an early claim for the evening’s $129,000 “Knockout of the Night” bonus with a spectacular third-round finish of “The Ultimate Fighter 12″ veteran Kyle Watson.

The bout started off with a moderate pace as Makdessi looked to strike from the outside while also remaining wary of Watson’s grappling-based attack. The dueling strategies led to a bit of a lull at times, but Makdessi appeared to have done enough to take the frame.

In the second, it was Watson who went to a kicking attack and nailed Makdessi with a crushing high kick. The hard-headed Makdessi simply shook off the advance and went to back to work with his own approach. Working his hands that were just a little quicker, just a little more precise, Makdessi appeared to stun Watson in the closing moments of the second frame.

Up two rounds to none as the final round opened, Makdessi saved his best work for last. Bleeding under the left eye, Watson tried desperately for a takedown that wasn’t there, and Makdessi capitalized with a piece of well-crafted trickery. Faking a low kick, Makdessi then came over the top with a spectacular spinning backlist that sent Watson crashing to the canvas.

No follow-up was required, and the bout was waved off at the 1:27 mark of the third and final round.

“I knew I hit him well, but I didn’t know I knocked him out,” Makdessi said after the bout. “I guess when you train that much, it’s just a feeling to know when to use it.

“I like to feel out my opponent first. It’s a true testament to my great coaches and my kickboxing coach.”

With his first octagon finish, Makdessi (9-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) remains undefeated through the first nine bouts of his career. Meanwhile, Watson (13-7-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) sees a five-fight win streak snapped after tasting UFC defeat for the first time.

Garza catches Jabouin with flying triangle

The evening’s first contest saw featherweight Pablo Garza extend his historic UFC run by earning an impressive submission win in the opening bout of UFC’s first-ever stadium show.

Utilizing a significant height advantage over opponent Yves Jabouin, Garza tried first to launch strikes from the outside before settling into a Thai clinch to pummel his foe on the inside. Jabouin showed comfort early, as he was able to pull away from the exchanges and fire a few of his own counter shots. But just when it appeared things might be swinging Jabouin’s way, things went terribly wrong.

Seizing the moment on the biggest stage in North American history, Garza launched onto Jabouin’s shoulders with a well-crafted flying triangle choke that caught his opponent by surprise. Both fighters hit the floor, and Jabouin tried desperately to wiggle free, even signaling once to referee Yves Lavigne that all was well. As Garza rolled to his side and torqued the hold, it no longer was, and Jabouin was forced to tap with 29 seconds left in the first round.

“I was a little jittery,” Jabouin admitted after the fight. “The biggest crowd I ever fought in front of was a couple thousand. This was like, ‘Holy [expletive],’ and it took a while to concentrate on the fight.”

Garza (11-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC), who in December proved victorious in the UFC’s first-ever featherweight contest, has now won two-straight fights. Jabouin (15-7 MMA, 0-1 UFC), while always competitive, now falls to just 1-3 under the Zuffa banner.

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